Rising interest rates have eased demand from potential buyers over 2022, which has been evident in the slowing of home price growth.

But demand for homes in one state continues to outpace the rest.

The PropTrack Potential Buyers Index, which measures the number of people seriously interested in buying, shows that demand has been trending downwards since March this year.

This has been caused in part by anticipated interest rate hikes, which saw lenders start to raise mortgage rates from November 2021 onwards.

Fixed term loans for both owner-occupiers and investors were most impacted by the increase at first.

Although demand is slowing down, it remains 50% higher than during the pre-COVID period in early 2020, and specific regions continue to experience strong growth in levels of potential buyers.

An analysis of the SA3 regions with the largest annual growth in quarterly potential buyers reveals that interest in Queensland homes has skyrocketed over the past 12 months.

Regional Queensland in particular made up majority of the top 15 potential buyer growth regions.

With Brisbane median house values nearing $800,000, many Australians are now flocking to regional Queensland for more affordable options.

Regional Queensland has topped the list in terms of annual demand growth. Picture: Getty

This is clearly seen in recent price growth.

Regional Queensland (which includes the Gold Coast) saw prices rise by 24% over the past year – the third-highest pace across greater capital city regions.

Though Brisbane and regional New South Wales home values grew slightly more, unit values in regional Queensland experienced the highest annual and monthly growth, up 22.3% and 0.95% respectively, among all regions and capital cities.

That indicates continued strong demand from potential buyers.

Demand from potential buyers is set to decrease further during 2022 and prices are predicted to trend downward in some of our capitals.

But that said, they are likely to remain above pre-pandemic values.

However, in the Sunshine State and in South Australia, where the market remains strong, we expect demand and prices to remain strong in coming months.

Source: realestate.com.au/insights/